Vonage Taxes

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 60

I'm waiting on an explanation from Vonage, but I thought I'd post this here as well in case someone can answer quicker than Vonage:

Explain why the taxes and fees are different month-to-month when my base rate remains the same?

Base Rate = 19.99/unlimited minutes

MAY
Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99
Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99
Sales Tax $1.32
Federal Universal Service Fee $1.31
County 911 Fee $0.50

APRIL
Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99
Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99
Sales Tax $1.32
Federal Universal Service Fee $1.19
County 911 Fee $0.50

Posts: 114 · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 7:24 pm Post subject:

I can't tell you WHY, but I can tell you that my FUSF charge went up as well without so much as a notice why. Perhaps someone else can inform us both how the FUSF charge is calculated.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

jmelcher wrote:

Base Rate = 19.99/unlimited minutes

I don't know the answer to your question, but why is the base rate for your Vonage service only $19.99?

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

the $19.99 is for 500 minutes in Canada, in the U.S it is suppose to be $14.99 check your statement again.

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 60

[quote="Steve48"]

jmelcher wrote:

Base Rate = 19.99/unlimited minutes

I don't know the answer to your question, but why is the base rate for your Vonage service only $19.99?

I threatened to cancel the first of the year and they gave me a rate of $19.99/unlimited in order to keep me.

Email from Vonage explaining the differences in fees... they still did not answer my question about why the differences month to month in the fees so I sent them another email asking again...

Quote:

Thank you for contacting Customer Care.

We understand from your email that you have queries regarding the increase in your monthly bill.

We like to inform you that you were charged $19.99 for the Unlimited 12 Months Step Up Plan. There were taxes added in your bill, so your monthly charges increased to $25.10.

State and local governments may assess taxes, surcharges and/or fees
on your use of Vonage service. These charges may be a flat fee or a
percentage of your Vonage charges and may change from time to time
without notice. These charges are based on the rates applicable to the
address you provided to us.

Emergency 911 Cost Recovery of $0.99 applies to each line of service.

Regulatory Recovery Fee applicable for each phone number on your
account.

The FCC recently mandated that Voip providers, including Vonage, are required to contribute to the Federal Universal Service Fund (USF). Vonage is committed to complying with this mandate from the FCC. Accordingly, a 5.31% Federal Universal Service Fee will be added to your bill. Vonage does not profit nor benefit in any way from this contribution to the USF. This charge is passed directly to the United States government.

Whenever there is any change concerning any issue related with the
Vonage service it is informed to the customer through the "Service
Announcement" tab present under the dashboard in your Web Account. In
addition it is reflected on the Vonage website too. Please do visit
them regularly.

If you have any questions, your Vonage team is available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Contact us whenever and however it suits you!

- On-Line Help Center at http://www.vonage.com/help.php
- Contact Us at http://www.vonage.com/help_contactus.php
- Or call Toll-Free at 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357)

Thanks again for choosing Vonage, a better phone service for less!

Sincerely,

Vonage Customer Care

No matter what the monthly rate, according to them, the fees should be the same each month, and my bill should not differ from month to month, but it does. And that, ladies and gentleman, is the $64 million question... why?

Posts: 208 · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:54 am Post subject:

From what I've gathered, the USF changes month to month depending on a number that is given out by the FCC. If the FCC tells Voip providers it has to go up, then Vonage must comply.